Christmas Culture

A Palestinian girl wearing a Santa Claus costume walks down the stairs next to scouts standing outside the Latin Church in Gaza City. (Mahmun Hams, AFP)

Ryan Leverock and his sister Keira Leverock visit an artificial Christmas tree, known as the "Tree of Hope," that stands in an empty grass lot in Union Beach, New Jersey. The tree, rescued from a pile of trash and wreckage left by Superstorm Sandy and put up by a local resident, has been visited and decorated by people from all over who consider it a symbol of hope. (Michael Loccisano, AFP)

Runners dressed in Father Christmas costumes take part in the annual five kilometer Santa Dash in Liverpool, England. Many runners wear a blue suit, usually supporters of Everton FC, who refuse to run in the colours of their city rivals Liverpool FC. (Paul Ellis, ANP)

A delivery man transports a Christmas tree on his motorbike as he makes his way to a client's home in downtown Hanoi. There is a Catholic community of six-million people in the communist Southeast Asian nation and Christmas, which is celebrated in big cities, is also a good opportunity for businesses. (Hoang Dinh Nam, AFP)

Children look at a Christmas tree made of milk tin cans. For the second year in a row, Athenians donated those cans to Medecins Du Monde which will then distribute them to the poor. (Louisa Gouliamaki, AFP)

The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. (Stan Honda, AFP)

A teenager decorates Christmas trees set up at a makeshift shrine to the victims of a elementary school shooting in Newtown, America. (Emmanuel Dunand, AFP)